Duke Blue Devils College Football Pregame Quote, 11/30/2020

Alright, the ever-changing environment of 2020. And our team is excited about the opportunity to play another ranked team, a top 10 football team and certainly one that merits it. Miami has had a great year. We found out late yesterday, so we started work on them late last night and have continued throughout the day. We won’t start practicing until tomorrow. I think Manny Diaz does a great job. Certainly, they have changed offensively, made a great hire there. They’re one of the more explosive offensive teams you’ll see in the country. Then as always, with a Manny Diaz team, a defense that can consume you. Outstanding up front, linebacker and in the secondary. A big challenge for us but one we’re excited about taking on.

On Duke replacing Florida State with Miami on the schedule:

Well the Florida State game, actually I thought would have been played this weekend, just in conversations that I was having in Tallahassee earlier in the day. But I don’t know whether that game will be played. I’m almost frightened to say, but I see us playing the next two weeks. But I’m not sure right now, I would hesitate to say an opponent. We’ve been healthy all year, we’ve been available. I think that’s part of what’s happened, a lot of people have a lot of issues with COVID 19. We’re up and ready and our team enjoys all the challenges and the opportunities to play.

On how many games Duke has left:

Well we’re obviously going to play this weekend. And I do think we’ll play the 12th. I believe that.

On the challenges and continuous changes teams have been faced with during this season:

Yeah I’ll just mention this about the players and I tell them all the time and I can only speak to our players. It’s been remarkable what these young people have done. We didn’t get to come back until later than everyone else. We were back mid-July but they’ve been here every day. They’ve gone to school virtually. They live by themselves. They’re not going out doing anything. It’s very unique. They’ve been inspirational to me. I think the thing that ‚Äì what 2020 has meant and why sports are important is certainly, I’m glad people enjoy watching. But I think it’s a tribute to the relationships that are developed on teams. I can see clearly how much our team cares for each other. Certainly, as a coach, that’s what you want to be around day in and day out. And I don’t know if people can understand that. When things aren’t going well like they are for us that bond is even stronger. It’s very evident. I’m extremely proud of our team. Whether it’s in the locker room after this past Saturday night when it didn’t go well in Atlanta or any circumstance this year. What I hope that comes from it for football players is that we grow as people, we learn a lot of life lessons and we use them for the rest of our lives in a good manner.

On how much input Duke had in the scheduling change:

Well I’m not privy to those calls. So, I can’t answer that. You’d have to ask Dr. (Kevin) White or Nina King.

On the difficulty of preparing for a new opponent the week of the game:

Yeah, it’s challenging because what we do is we take a schedule and even after ours changed again, initially, we do what we call summer scout reports pre-work. Then we try to work about eight or nine days ahead breaking down an opponent. We can’t start just on Sunday after playing a game. A lot of pre-work goes into it amongst the staff. When you don’t have that, you’re basically cranking up a little late. It’s a challenge, but it’s one that we can do and have done and we’re trying to catch up today. We won’t roll on the practice field until tomorrow. We’ll go out there tomorrow well-prepared and in a good position to put a plan in for Miami.

On what he noticed after watching film from the Georgia Tech game:

Well, we played with great effort. We laid it on the line, which is what I thought after the game. I was very proud of that. We just didn’t execute clearly. We had an alignment problem or two on defense that hurt us, giving up big plays. I may have mentioned that earlier. Then offensively it just we didn’t execute at certain times. Certain times we looked really good. A big part of turning the ball over was just getting out of sync. It’s hard to explain. I think the players kind of had the same reaction, almost a shoulder shrug. It’s a unique time we’re going through and we tried like crazy to learn from it. I think one of the things that players I’ve heard them talk about themselves is how critically important every little detail at practice becomes.

On the players reaction to the schedule change:

Yeah I haven’t been with them because all this happened late last night. I sent information out that it looked like we would be playing the next two weeks. I haven’t heard anything negative. I think the initial reaction when you were in the middle of a three-week period not playing and we get a game canceled and our guys were ready to play then they hear that it’s December 19th, I don’t think they were really comfortable with that. I wasn’t comfortable with that because that’s such a unique time. But now playing this past weekend and getting to play back to back, these guys love to play. It’s a little bit more appropriate to look at it as December 5th, December 12th.

On the bond of the team:

Well I can’t say enough about the character of this team, of this program. Our seniors, which this is likely the last home game, I can’t say that for sure. But we’ll celebrate our seniors in a very unique year knowing that some of them may choose to try to get another year of eligibility. But their leadership. I’ve been all the way down to our freshmen and I want people to think about this. These guys are so excited. They’re getting ready to start college. I can barely remember going off to college but that’s an exciting time to get ready to play college football. They come in here in mid-July, really unprepared not knowing what to expect. No real rigid workouts with us before. Then they start camp, but they go nowhere. They don’t really go to college. They go to class virtually. They’re not meeting new people. They’re living in a room by themselves. They don’t even have a college roommate. So, what I’m telling people and people need to understand, this has been a unique challenge for young people. Because they’re bonded, because they care about each other. These young men ‚Äì I tell people all the time we lead the country in great parents and their value systems are in place. So, from senior down to true freshman, it’s been inspirational as a coach. It reminds me of why I got into coaching. That’s to hopefully mentor young people and to be around great young people. And so in a very unique way, nobody enjoys getting beat particularly me, I’ve never been a good loser, but, I will say this this has been an inspirational year of football for us here and nobody has run away from any part of it. I told our staff the same thing yesterday. I’m also very proud of this staff and the work they’ve put in and the leadership they’ve displayed for these players. I could not say that strongly enough.

On Miami’s defense and if Duke will change the game plan going into Saturday:

No, not really. They’re extremely talented up front, but they will pressure you a lot of different ways. They’ve got great athletes that they put in different positions to make plays. They’ve kind of always done that. I don’t know how many former Miami players are in the NFL. But I know it’s a lot of them. When you look at them, there’s a lot of people on that field that can make plays. One of the biggest things to do is just consistency on offense. We’ve got to find that because their offense is so explosive and run a high-tempo offense. We’ve got to make first downs and be successful ourselves on offense to give our defense some time to catch their breath.

On Miami quarterback D’Eriq King:

Yeah, he’s a great athlete and he can extend plays. Any quarterback this day and time, and you see that more and more, great athletes that extend plays can make plays. He’s got a lot of weapons. Looks like he has a great knowledge of what they’re trying to do. He’s as I said a multi-threat player. And he takes advantage of everything a defense gives him. And he’s great. He’s a master at running the program. I mean they hurry up, get to the line of scrimmage. He gets the ball quickly knows what to do with it. And has become more and more consistent as the seasons gone by as he has spent more time in that particular offense.

On the announcement of a player out against Georgia Tech due to COVID 19 protocol:

Well we didn’t announce a positive player, we just have a player that’s out due to COVID protocol. What I would tell you on tracing or anything else that happens here, our protocol and what it’s been is crazy good. I don’t expect the player back this coming Saturday. But it’s just a part of the protocol as we see it and what we do. I’m going to listen to our medical people and all of our people that are involved with the protocol of all sports here. But certainly, it’s been outstanding in football, just pretty amazing.